[gigy]

If civic can keep both high and low beams on at the same time, its 460 watt of power you will be demanding and subsequent heat will reduce the life of light assy very much. ELD might be upset with this considering you already have a loaded audio setup.

[palash987]

Hearty Congratulations frankmehta.
Much appreciate the cng conversion.

Many dreamt of it ,
but you were the one who took the road less traveled by.
And experienced it on your beauty.
Hard Work bears sweet fruits.

It's an eye-opener of how one can save on costs [capital + revenue] and on the same time not sacrifice the ride or ride quality or luxury and snob value too.
Great work frank.

Wish you many more happy and safe miles and smiles.

[frankmehta]

Thank you so much for the kind words, sir.

I was just looking through the posts made in this thread, and I realized that I haven't mentioned that I had given my car for Air Conditioning service to Royal Air Conditioners at Babulnath. The previous owner had changed the cooling coil recently but it wasn't an original one and my trusted AC guy told me that it's in the best interest of the car and the system, to change the cooling coil. This was a good excuse to have the entire system removed, serviced, lubricated and also checked for leaks, if any. Told him to replace anything if he deems it even 10% below potential. I am very particular about the air conditioning in the car, and hence don't ever skimp on any of those parts.
The sad part was that the built in thermostat was also acting up. So we replaced the cooling coil with a Keihin (Made in Japan), added a new thermostat and also, by my request, he put in a cabin pollen filter. Civics in India don't come with one, but they do have a provision to install a filter below the glove box. I had one installed because I felt that it's best to install one.
The total damages for opening up the system, filling gas (had to be done twice, as they realized the Thermostat was acting up AFTER wrapping up the system), servicing, compressor oil change, thermostat, cooling coil and refitting the system back came up to 15.8 k. We know him very well, so he gave us a 10% discount after that. I am not at all complaining about the cost. For the work that he has done, I would be more than happy to pay that amount.
The car AC chills to the bone. If the car is parked in the sun on a hot summer day, the deadly combination of this fabulous airconditioner and the VKool tints go a long way in cooling the cabin within minutes.

Anyway, 1500 km completed. No complaints yet. Just taking a call on tyres soon.
Mostly going to be stock size Michelin Primacy LCs.

Till then, I shall update you'll about any activity about the car on a daily basis till I can..

[frankmehta]

Another update.

Dropped the Xenons. I was losing sleep over that one incident where the opposing Civic with Xenons blinded me. I decided to follow my mind rather than my heart and went to Opera House and got a Bosch relay kit for the low beam, alongwith Trifa Rallye 80w Halogen bulbs (as opposed to the stock Sylvania bulbs)
http://www.trifa.de/cms/front_conten...idcat=7&id=173

I might not get as much light as the Xenons (Though, the person who I bought them from, said they will function MUCH better in the stock housing than HIDs and he knows a thing or two about auto lighting) but I can sleep peacefully thinking I won't be blinding opposing traffic or causing peril to oncoming drivers.

[jatinpatel]

Upgrade the Hi_beam to 100w bulbs use Philips or same Trifa 100w bulbs if you get.
You will be properly sorted, with 100-80 setup you will be satisfied to drive the car on full dark highways also without any issue. Been there done that.

Myself using 100/80 setup working on Hella Relay and wiring.

[frankmehta]

Thanks Jatin, but I am very happy with the high beam. In fact, I really appreciated it when I used it. So no point adding more load to the battery by adding another 200 w of consumption at one time. As @gigy said, a headlight flash will take 460w of power and a lot of current might be consumed in doing so. I am yet to see how the new lights perform at night.

As for the big upgrade!! Yayyyy! Went to Pal Tyres at Opera House and had the tyres changed today. He gave me a lot of choice, and suggested Apollo Accelere, Yoko C or A-Drives or Michelin Primacy LC. But he also said that the best tyres that I could fit onto the Civic would be Michelin's best Grand Touring tyres.

Lo and behold, the Michelin Primacy MXV4!!! These tyres have received fantastic reviews on the internet and have also been lauded by Tirerack and such, abroad. Michelin even goes as far in giving a 60000 mile (you read that right) warranty on the tyres!!!
The ones I received were made in Romania (vis a vis the Indian sourced Michelin that are made in China these days) and come with a 3 year warranty. The size is 205/65R15, which technically is a wrong upgrade but has served Civic owners well as they add 5-7 mm of clearance which is like a boon.
I drove her from the Tyre place to my house (600 m) and couldn't really fathom any change in dynamics of the car but the steering felt much lighter and the car was more eager to roll in neutral at signals. I have a 50 km visit scheduled on Saturday, to see how she performs on the highway and on the Bandra Worli Sea Link.
Till then, crude pics.

[sumeethaldankar]

Congrats on the tyres. 205 is a good choice for the Civic as it does give better ground clearance plus the tyres are huge and meaty and enhances the car's sexy looks.I am amazed you found the steering to be lighter after the upgrade as when i bolted Bridgestone 205's on my Civic i found the steering a bit heavy and also there was a slight drop in the acceleration.I guess the tyres differ from brand to brand hence the difference.Anyways good luck with tyres.
BTW how much did you pay for each piece if you don't mind telling.

Happy rolling :-)

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Congrats on the tyres. 205 is a good choice for the Civic as it does give better ground clearance plus the tyres are huge and meaty and enhances the car's sexy looks.I am amazed you found the steering to be lighter after the upgrade as when i bolted Bridgestone 205's on my Civic i found the steering a bit heavy and also there was a slight drop in the acceleration.I guess the tyres differ from brand to brand hence the difference.Anyways good luck with tyres.
BTW how much did you pay for each piece if you don't mind telling.

Happy rolling :-)

Oh ya. You bet. Ride is much quieter and pliant. Also, the suspension is soaking bumps well. You are right, about the pickup. You do feel slightly slow off the blocks. But about the lightness of the steering, I guess the tyres that were on the Civic (43000 and 5 years old) had uneven tread which made it slightly more difficult to turn the steering wheel while parking or when stationary. The new tyres feel effortless and put less load on the hydraulic steering.
Tyres are at a very nice price of ONLY 5750 per piece!!!

[gomzi]

Hey Frank, good to hear about the quieter ride on the new Michelins. Any particular reason for choosing MXV8 over LC?
I'll be looking to upgrade the tyres on my pre-owned civic as well pretty soon. While the current Yoko C drives have good tread remaining, the previous owner had fitted 205/60's which actually lowers ride height and I need to be very careful with the couple of speed-breakers at home & office and thats with just 2 people in the car + full CNG kit.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

The car AC chills to the bone. If the car is parked in the sun on a hot summer day, the deadly combination of this fabulous airconditioner and the VKool tints go a long way in cooling the cabin .

I am seriously looking at adding vkool tints to my safari, the light almost transparent ones, with the uv protection but I am worried the pandus will strip them down in lieu of the Supreme Court order. Honestly it's difficult driving the safari in the hot sun, with no tints. How are you managing with the law and your tints?

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by gomzi

Hey Frank, good to hear about the quieter ride on the new Michelins. Any particular reason for choosing MXV8 over LC?
I'll be looking to upgrade the tyres on my pre-owned civic as well pretty soon. While the current Yoko C drives have good tread remaining, the previous owner had fitted 205/60's which actually lowers ride height and I need to be very careful with the couple of speed-breakers at home & office and thats with just 2 people in the car + full CNG kit.

Have driven over the same route before and after installing the tyres. I managed to scrape the car with me alone in the driver's seat with the old tyres. After installing the new tyres, I haven't scraped the car even once, yet.
I went in for the MXV4 (not MXV8) as the MXV4 are meant to have a much longer life than the LC's. In fact, Michelin has a 60000 mile warranty on them. Which means that they will realistically last me for atleast 50000 km. Which I think will be the duration that the car will be with us.

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I am seriously looking at adding vkool tints to my safari, the light almost transparent ones, with the uv protection but I am worried the pandus will strip them down in lieu of the Supreme Court order. Honestly it's difficult driving the safari in the hot sun, with no tints. How are you managing with the law and your tints?

I have an extremely light colour that is difficult to spot in the day. Cooling is top notch, though.

[handsofsteel]

@frankmehta,am a late entrant here, so kindly excuse this question about your first post. did you try for a secondhand civic/accord at any of the honda outlets (ala GTO)? if yes, what were your experiences at these places? have been greatly inspired by this thread to go down the same path as you, so readying my database

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

@frankmehta,am a late entrant here, so kindly excuse this question about your first post. did you try for a secondhand civic/accord at any of the honda outlets (ala GTO)? if yes, what were your experiences at these places? have been greatly inspired by this thread to go down the same path as you, so readying my database

No mate. I find the Honda outlets slightly overpriced. But I am quite sure they sell genuine cars, though. Anyway, I was out looking for a good deal in the market and Linkway and Arya Honda, both were out of reckoning when I saw their prices for used cars. Simply too much, according to me, and hence I decided to look at Carwale ads more than anything else.


Ok, some updates, people.
The car is running great!! She has completed 1700 km with us since we bought her on 16th of September, last month, and already completed 250 km since she had a change of shoes.

• The new shoes have done her a world of good and I am satisfied with the purchase. The air pressure in the front and rear is 30 psi. Now I wish to clarify this. WHEN is the best time to fill up air in the tyres?? When they are cold, right?? And if I fill up 30 psi in tyres when they are cold, then when they warm up, they will be in the 31-33 psi range right?? Does that mean that ride will get bumpy?? Hence, doesn't it imply that I inflate to 28 psi in both fron and rear, and expect a 30 psi when they warm up? I am confused. Mumbai roads are far too bumpy for me to experiment too much. I hate hitting bumps and hearing that sickening sound.

• Another concern. The car is rattling in a few places and it's extremely irritating. I went to have the doors checked and the doors are not making any untoward sounds. I hear a few rattles from the rear, one from the boot and a sickening buzz from near the lower part of the dashboard. I feel like tearing my hair out when we hit bumps and I hear rattles. It's a bane of Japanese cars, these rattles, but I want a 'RATTLES' expert in Mumbai. Can someone point out a good technician who can have a ride with me in the car and diagnose and rectify the rattles?? I would love to do that and have the rattles sorted, for once.

• The HID kit is out and the new bulbs are CRAP. They (pun intended) cannot hold a candle to the Xenons and I want to take my car to a professional who can actually align my beams (I think the headlights are not focussing at the right places) I am really uncomfortable with the new bulbs as I am used to a bright white beam on the road, rather than the dull yellow halogen beam. This needs to be addressed soon.

• The stellar part, still, is the performance, which hasn't taken a hit. The CNG conversion is about 1600 km old and the car is still driving as well as she did when she came back from the conversion. She still flies off signals and is very quick to respond to throttle changes. A slightly firmer push of the throttle is required, as compared to Petrol, but I have discussed this with my installer, Suraj AutoGas and he says that this is the advantage of having a dedicated ECU and it's a matter of calibrating the Lovato ECU to adapt to the throttle position. I have to leave the car with him in the next week for a check-up anyway.

• Average:
  I did 110 km in traffic and also idled for 15 minutes with AC yesterday and filled Rs. 300 of CNG today. This translates to it's worst average yet of Rs. 3 per km (11 km/kg) which by it's own sounds bad, but I am still laughing my way to the bank. The car is still on her FIRST tank of Petrol (which we filled on the day that we got her) and has more than 20 litres left. This goes to show how versatile this car is, on CNG and how economical she is already turning out for me.
  
  
  A (slightly crude) look at things:
• If I had done 1600 km on Petrol with a combined average of 8 kmpl---> I would have ended up spending about 200 litres which translates to 15000 rupees of Petrol.
• I did the same 1600 km on CNG with a combined average of 14 km/kg---> I ended up filling 117 kg of CNG @ 33.10 rupees per kg which translates to Rs. 3900 of CNG. I am adding about Rs. 300 of Petrol which might have been consumed since she starts up on Petrol.

That STILL amounts to about Rs. 11000 saved in the FIRST month itself!!

At this rate, I will recover my kit costs within 6 months, at the maximum!! This one is seriously breaking all of owning a 1.8 litre engined, free revving automatic trannied Petrol sedan. The savings are EPIC, I tell you!

[d3mon]

I believe tyre pressure values listed in the owner's manual / door frame for most of the cars specify cold pressures explicitly.

[frankmehta]

I agree. But generally manufacturer ratings are geared towards fuel efficiency. Not ride comfort. Besides most of the time, I'm travelling alone. I need a good optimum pressure value. It took me a long time to establish an optimal pressure range for the Fiesta. I might sound anal but honestly the bad roads in Mumbai don't leave much scope for error.